The Road to Despair
by Tetra D. Serket
Summary: Robin Nico recalls her criminal past and hopes for the future as she is forced to cross the bridge of hesitation of Enies Lobby. Except this time, there will be no one coming to save her. Reviews and comments are greatly appreciated!


Robin reluctantly followed the CP9 along the paved rock bridge known to the people of Enies Lobby as the bridge of hesitation. Her actions, she mused sadly, had disturbed and angered the peaceful citizens of Water Seven, provoking them into intense anger at the people they believed had attempted to murder their idol, Iceburg. Her feelings of remorse were not helped by the fact that her co-conspirators, or rather, the ones who had forced her into this one-sided bargain in the first place, had been masquerading as Iceburg-san's closest companions. It had been her arrival that caused this, she thought, her existence that had caused them to reveal their true nature, leaving Iceburg devoid of four of his closest companions. She could remember still the look of anguish on the shipwright's face as he realized the depth of his former friends' betrayal, and though she knew she was the cause of his pain, she felt she could sympathize with his loss. After all, no one knew better than her the feeling of losing all that was dear to you or that of realizing that the people you had come to love and trust were simply frauds, existing to play with your feelings and torture your soul. She knew the pain, and yet she continued to cause it. And worst of all, she had inflicted this pain on first true friends, the Strawhat crew.

Captain Luffy had rescued her from the destruction of her dream, taken her in when she had nowhere left to go, and she could still remember his infectious grin as he watched his crazy crew. Nami bending over her intricate charts and maps, Usopp telling tall tales of his fantastic escapades, Chopper crushing medicinal herbs, Sanji whirling around the kitchen, Zoro determinedly training on the deck; she could remember them all, picture them in her mind, recall to her thoughts the adventure they had been on. As she walked across the bridge of hesitation, guarded closely by those false companions, the members of the CP9, she contemplated the giant doors that led to her doom, torture and most likely death. They loomed up ahead, seeming to approach her as she stepped closer, becoming larger and larger in her vision until they were all that she could see, blocking the sky and the cerulean ocean. Tears formed in her eyes as she began to shiver and she stumbled involuntarily on the rough stones, sinking to one knee. Spandam was immediately there, striking her backhanded across the face, causing her to fall to the floor and gasp in pain. "GET UP NICO ROBIN!" Spandam screamed. Then his voice grew dangerously quiet. "Remember what happened to Ohara. It could happen again. I could obliterate those idiot pirates you seem to care for so much." She stared straight at him with silent defiance and vision blurred by tears. She knew she should be feeling terrified - after all, they were taking her to Impel Down, the strongest Marine prison in the Grand Line - but all she could feel was overwhelming relief and simultaneously, overwhelming pain.

This is it, she thought, as she took another step towards terror and oblivion. I am going to die here. I carried the burden of my research, of my bounty, of the family and friends I saw die on Ohara. I searched for twenty long years, I stooped to the lowest of depths, I did all I could, and yet it wasn't enough. She thought once more of the Strawhat crew, all their escapades, all that they had accomplished together. The time she had spent with them now seemed like a fantasy, an illusion of happiness that never should have graced her life. She couldn't stop a tear from rolling lightly down her cheek as Spandam strutted ahead and laughed gaily at the thought of his upcoming promotion and reward. I didn't deserve the Strawhat crew, she realized. They never needed me and they will certianly be happier without the curse of my existence haunting them. She felt more tears fall down her cheek and bit her lip to keep from sobbing. "Will they come for me?" one part of her tremulously questioned. "Why would they?" responded her more rational side. "You betrayed them. You left them. You never belonged with them, and they know it." The marines lining the bridge saluted and turned away as she was led onto the center ship of the convoy that would take her through the imposing doors of Enies Lobby gate. She remembered the giant Saul, her first and only childhood friend, and his last words to her as he froze to death at the hands of the marine admiral Aokiji. "Someday you will meet your nakama," he had said with a smile, and she had thought she had found them in the Strawhat crew. She could now no longer hold back her sobs, tears dripping steadily down her leather jacket as she sank to the deck of the ship. He had lied, she thought. There could be no peace, friendship, or trust for a devil child like her. She had and always would be alone. The archaeologist's desperate sobs cracked through the air as the doors of Enies Lobby gate, with a finality unrivaled by all she had witnessed, slammed shut.

Miles away, a rubber boy with a scar under one eye and a conspicuous straw hat perched on his spiky black hair let out a scream of rage and sorrow, then collapsed. His green-haired first mate lunged to catch him, then straightened slowly, holding him carefully upright, as their navigator let out a cry of alarm and rushed to them. Their cook, sniper and doctor also hurried to their captain's side with looks of concern apparent on their faces. The boy could only cry into the swordsman's shoulder. He knew that he had failed, that he had lost one of his precious nakama, and that he would never see Nico Robin, informant and archaeologist of the Strawhat crew, again.


End file.
